Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Are Women (Spiritually) Superior To Men? A Call To Action!

In a recent article for Gaia about the Gnostic myth of Sophia, I explored the ancient ascendence of the "Feminine Divine," and was reminded of a piece from a while back that managed to ruffle a few feathers. It was this particularly touchy question I asked back then, that still begs to be asked, I believe – especially when we consider the worsening conditions of our embattled planet, and their causes and propagators.

In posing a provocative question like this, I realized that I needed to be more careful and considerate–gentle, in fact–in order not to evoke con-frontational reactions. Asking it in a more appropriate way requires that I get in touch with my feminine side, the part of me that's more conscious to the sensitivities of other people (in this case, mostly men). And as it turns out for me, getting in touch with my feminine side is the best way to do a lot of things.

It probably comes as no surprise that the question in question is the title of this piece, namely: Are women spiritually superior to men? And if so, why?

Most feathers are ruffled by my answer, both then and now, which is simply: Yes, they are. I believe women are generally superior to men in terms of their spiritual alignment, so to speak, and that there's plenty of evidence to support that belief – and that the spiritual inferiorities of men implied are the subject of continual denial, at tremendous cost and consequence to all of life on our planet.

The clear-cutting of virgin rainforests, dumping toxins into the environment, commercial eradication of endangered species, conscious obstruction in developing clean energy sources, and profiteering from war and acts of terror are pretty exclusively–with very few exceptions–in the domain and by the designs of men. Approximately 90% of murders are committed by men. If any other single group of people were responsible for such mayhem, there'd be quite an uproar.

Denial is the acceptance of ignorance as truth, through the force of will.

Take note, I'm speaking in patently general terms, because there clearly are, and always have been, amazing male spiritual leaders through-out human history; and there are many men everywhere, full of Love, who possess expansive, compassionate consciousness. Still, in the broad context of the damage done to our planet (and our potential) that predominantly male intellect and energy causes, we really need to consider what it is that's missing in so many men, and what we can possibly do about it, before it's just plain too late.

Exploring these attitudes, one has to become infuriatingly anecdotal. I don't like having to parade out a bunch of stereotypical characteristics as defined by "evolution" and history to make the point, but I trust that the shared experiences of Life (and honest intentions) will justify the effort at increasing some awareness about this issue that just isn't talked about enough.

So here goes: The average man's psychic concerns often tend to be of a less conscious, and more physical or material nature. Forgive the clichés, but (as usual, clichés often exist largely to soften the painful reality of our spiritual faults) men are traditionally regarded to be more dominant, forceful, willful, proud, stubborn, ingenious, competitive, emotionally unavailable, and willfully dismissive than women. They often have a persistent need to be right (even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary) as well as the need to feel "in charge." Unfortunately, most of these characteristics run directly counter to human spiritual perception.

Women (by the same stereotypical turn) possess those same qualities, but at a far lower volume. Instead, they tend to be more gentle, nurturing, acquiescent, considerate, cooperative, tenacious, empathetic, emotional, intuitive, and engaging – all characteristics of a greater spiritual connection. Characteristics of a higher consciousness.

Ego is the enemy; Compassion is the cure.

Men often operate primarily by ego and intellect, which have their place, but can be very problematic, as many of the most impulsive, violent, and destructive courses of action are demanded as spontaneous responses by ego, or are otherwise extremely "well reasoned" – that is, relying entirely on intellect. Peculiarly, many of the most destructive ideas are very well thought out.

Women are more often guided by compassionate identification, and what may be called intuitive intelligence – both of which are solid bedrocks of spirituality, so much so that they are the two essential components most men need to acquire to ever hope to become whole. You may say they're the dot in the Yang side of the Tao symbol.

We also tend to suffer from patriarchal definitions of human progress, whether culturally, like in our financial system, resource management, energy produc-tion, and political structures; or scienti-fically, like the [largely male] misconcep-tion of Darwinism as a "survival of the fittest" that can mean survival of the most selfishly impulsive, instead of as the evolutionary reality that it demonstrates, that is: survival of the most cooperatively adaptable.

From health and biomedical sciences, to the search for a Unifying Theory, man (men) consistently ignores the single most important factor in humanity's true successes – spiritual consciousness – especially critical since it's the actual answer to all of the world's emerging crises; as well as questions of origin, overall well-being, direction, and purpose.

Is it because women are really interdimensional portals, so to speak – mediums of divine passage and actual living channels to the Source of Life? Is it this completely different wiring – a more intuitive, Right Brain connection to our shared spiritual reality that women come by naturally, and the collective male ego's inability to recognize, respect, and utilize it that's led the world into it's present chaotic state? The answers seem painfully obvious, but haven't always been so overlooked.

Here's where the Gnostic myth of Sophia (Wisdom) becomes so meaningful. In the past, The Divine Feminine has been recognized as the key to our collective story; and the feminine [Mother] nature has been respected and served, with more balanced results for all.

In Sophia's search for greater union with the Source of light,sheaccidentally gets stuckin the chaoticrealm of macho earthly demigods she inadvertently brought to life (especially Yahweh, "God" of The Bible fame), and she must slowly and painfully climb her way back up through layers of destructive, arrogant self-will, surrender, and renewed purpose to reunite with her higher self, and become whole again in heaven. There, after leaving consciousness on earth in the form of Eve, she is reunited with her male twin in a kind of sacred, balanced androgyny. In this sense, like all of us in a way, she becomes an exile in this chaotic world, seeking reunion with her true Source and direction, that can only be found by the merging of our opposites.

So the answer is both hard, and easy. Men, who possess the compassionate consciousness of Sophia, must work on instigating a psychic shift in their less conscious brothers, and ally themselves with women who are already there, so to speak. Women must gather in the sanity and clarity of their own Feminine Divine, truly emerge from the shadow of unconscious men (particularly those who tend to seek wealth and power), and assert that divine energy and connection they possess, in remaking more spiritually-based ethics. To start changing hearts and minds.

The growing understanding of a kind of sacredness of transgenderism, increased discrimination in health and purity of food and water sources, a more equal distribution of the earth's resources to all of "God's Children" – even petty cultural realizations like the rejection of social media hook-ups as spiritually degrading – all of these are the purview of Mother Nature, and at the heart of a new Feminism, where women can shine their light on the darker corners of modern maleness.

The recipe for saving the world lies in this "Sacred Androgyny." Women must locate more of their "macho" insistence, and willfully assert the power inherent in their true, divine direction (Wisdom); and men must learn to concede to the compassion of intuitive intelligence, and educate less conscious men about their blindness to their own destructive tendencies. This is a call for real unity, within each and every man and woman.

And here's the thing – we gotta start right now! To merge those two sides into one, and dramatically expand spiritual consciousness, if we want to save the world as we know it.

"When you make the two into One…and say: Mountain move! It will move."

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Don't Be Put-off By This (Spiritual), It's Really Fun to Read Reading List

A Course in Miracles

A Joseph Campbell Companion (ed.)

A Practical Guide to Know Yourself -Maharshi

A Return to Love -Williamson

Bases of Yoga -Aurobindo

Being, Consciousness, Bliss -Fitzgerald

Black Elk Speaks

Christ the Yogi -Ravindra

Crest-Jewel of Discrimination -Shankara/Prabhavananda, Isherwood

Ethics of the Sages Pirke Avot -Shapiro

Finding the Hidden Self: The Shiva Sutras -Worthington

Food For the Gods -Berry (ed.)

Gnana Yoga -Vivekananda

Gnosticism -Hoeller

Good Life, Good Death -Gehlek

How to Know God: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali -Isherwood/Prabhavananda

I Am That -Maharaj

Infinite Life – Thurman

Jesus and Yahweh – Bloom

Jung and the Lost Gospels – Hoeller

Misquoting Jesus -Ehrman

Not Always So -Suzuki

Parallel Worlds -Kaku

Power Vs. Force -Hawkins

Quantum Shift in the Global Brain -Laszlo

Real Magic -Dyer

Rebirth and Karma – Aurobindo

Science and the Akashic Field -Laszlo

Suicide and the Soul – Hillman

Teachings of The Buddha -Kornfield (ed.)

The Bhagavad Gita -Easwaran

The Bhagavad Gita – Gandhi

The Book of Secrets -Chopra

The Captain's Verses -Neruda

The Dhammapada -Easwaran

The Divine Matrix -Braden

The Enlightened Mind -Mitchell (ed.)

The Essenes -Manitara

The Essential Mystics -Harvey (ed.)

The Essential Rumi – Barks

The Field -McTaggart

The Future Evolution of Man -Aurobindo

The Game of Life -Shinn

The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead – Hoeller

The Gospel of Thomas -Leloup

The Great Path of Awakening – Kongtrul

The Hermetica -Freke/Gandy

The Hope -Harvey

The Medium, The Mystic, and the Physicist -LeShan

The Original Jesus, Buddhist Christianity -Gruber, Kersten

The Passover Plot -Schonfield

The Power of Myth -Campbell

The Power of Now -Tolle

The Sacred Power of Huna -Morrell

The Secret Teachings of All Ages -Hall

The Soul of Rumi -Barks (trans/ed.)

The Spiritual Roots of Yoga -Ravindra

The Spirituality of Imperfection -Kurtz/Ketcham

The Tao of Physics -Capra

The Tao te Ching -Lao Tzu/Star, Mitchell, Rosenthal

The Three Pillars of Zen -Kapleau

The Undiscovered Self -Jung

The Upanishads -Mascaro (ed.)

The Way to God -Gandhi

Upanishads -Easwaran

When Things Fall Apart -Chodron

Your Sacred Self -Dyer

Zen Mind, Beginner Mind -Suzuki

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